Poultry News

Low-pathogenic Flu Virus Reported in South African Ostriches

SOUTH AFRICA - The H7N1 low-pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus was detected in farmed ostriches on one farm in the Western Cape Province in August.

The veterinary authority has sent an Immediate Notification dated 7 October to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

According to the report, the low-pathogenic H7N1 avian flu virus was detected in commercial ostriches at a farm in Oudsthoorn in the Western Cape on 20 August. Two of the 58 birds tested positive for the virus but no symptoms were reported and no ostriches died or were destroyed.

Epidemiological and molecular investigations have shown that this outbreak is not related to the 2013 LPAI H7N1 outbreak that occurred in the Eastern Cape Province.